There were tens and tens of other albums I wanted to put on this list, but this is it for today.I tried to choose ones that I know all the lyrics to, as that's a pretty good indication to how much I listened to an album. It saddens me to see how few women ended up on this top10. the reality is that I spent most of my 2000s listening to music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s and there were a lot of women in that bunch!

Happy New Year and thank you for reading this! I'll be back next year!

The January issue of Rolling Stone (Germany) lists Better Than Wages on the critics' list of the month. There it is (my name) where you see a little bit of red on the left side of the picture!!!(CLICK ON THE PIC TO MAKE IT BIG)This puts me on a good mood, I might open one of the Christmas chocolate boxes already...

Today I begin with my version of the end-of-the-decade listomania!I have followed with mixed emotions the endless album of thedecade lists sprouting up on the pages of magazines and blogs(and in conversations with friends). Our public and private need toreflect back on very recent history seems to have sped upin this last decade even more. My problem is that when I am asked toname my favorite album or event, or color even, I go blank.But I asked all of the old and new Drunk Lovers to send me theirTOP10's of 2000-2009! This is a way for us all to get to knowthese people a little better. They were allowed to choose whatthey are listing about, so it's not just music.

Today I am posting Niko Votkin's (drums) and Jukka Salminen's(guitar)TOP10 of the decade LISTS.Please, send your own Best of the Decade Lists in, as well!

NIKO VOTKIN TOP10 2000–2009

1. Friends, Relationships and Bands2. Old records and history of music.3. Drinking and smoking (K-Klubi)4. Hats5. Travelling in South America & India6. Vintage instruments7. Bicycling and Jogging8. Berlin & Touring in Europe9. Biker Boots10. The Kills

And better yet, in the first month of the super virtual year of 2010 Better Than Wages will be available on VINYL (Cargo Records) and On The Road will feature as a bonus track. Things will get physical again, but until then...

Next week on Thursday, December 3rd, I am playing my last Astrid Swan& The Drunk Lovers show of this year and this decade! Come to Kuudes Linja, Helsinki. Ville Ahonen will be playing as well and the DJ music is chosen by Brooklyn Vegans.

As Johanna Kustannus announced yesterday, Better Than Wages will be released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux-countries on January 29th, 2010. Cargo Records saw me and my band perform at this year's Music&Media event in Tampere and immediately set a release date for Better Than Wages.

I look forward to touring in Europe in support of the album release. Here is the schedule as we know it so far. More dates will be added shortly:27.1.10 Brussels, Belgium PRIVATE SHOW28.1.10 TBA29.1.10 TBA30.1.10 Furstenwalde, Germany3.2.10 Bassy, Berlin Germany4.2.10 TBA5.2.10 Bunker Ulmenwall, Bielefeld Germany6.2.10 Lothars alte nähfabrik, Schrobenhausen Germany

I'm packing to go on the road for the rest of this week. In addition to CD's, bags will be available in pink, black and white after the live shows. Come and talk to me people!19.11. Suisto-klubi, Hämeenlinna20.11. Dynamo, Turku21.11. Blue Pool, Forssa

I saw Ville Ahonen play on Saturday and am very happy to tell that he will be playing with us in Helsinki at Kuudes Linja on December 3rd. It is rare for me to get lost in watching a show so completely that I'm surprised when it ends so soon. Ville reminds me of Elliott Smith and Bon Iver although he sings in Finnish. He manages to pronounce the language without the usual sharp edges.

This week I'm looking forward to playing in the following places:19.11. Suisto-klubi, Hämeenlinna20.11. Dynamo, Turku21.11. Blue Pool, Forssa

So, as it always goes, Finland invites a load of little and big names from abroad to come and hear the music made here. The guests eat reindeer and drink drink drink and back home some weeks later they try to recollect what it was that caused the headache: the music or the weather?

For me this year's Music&Media, or Lost in Music actually did a load of good and I met some really nice people to work with plus witnessed some roulette action. And to Andy: the hats are here to stay, but maybe we can match the guys' shirts a bit better for you next time!

I have gone from pleading that nobody reads me my own album reviews in the early 2000s to willingly reading reviews both good and bad. I have become the critic of the critics who is more interested in internal flow rather than how many stars they gave my music...

I have been the reviewers' pet for a long time. Always appreciated, never horribly misunderstood, ridiculed or hated. Maybe it is due to this safe feeling that I have begun to read reviews with a genuine interest in the writer's way of thinking, in their approach to music.

With the explosion of on-line media there are millions of platforms for music reviews these days and therefore all guidelines or common principles have been washed away. I think this suggests both immense possibilities and the danger of complete chaos. As the pretense of objectivity and unemotional evaluation is vanishing, album reviews now have the potential of rising from the listener's subjective experience. Putting this experience to a context that is informative or on some other level justified seems to be the problem at present.

What is the purpose of album reviews in magazines and on-line publications? Has it shifted as the printed press prints smaller and smaller reviews and the virtual reality knows no limitations of length? Has it changed when there is continually more and more music to be written about?Are we reading the reviews to know what to buy, what is in or to learn about one person's experience? Does any one reviewer have authority to decide what we will listen to? Is the loss of authority in criticism a facet in dwindling sales of music?

At best a review of an album is in discussion with the music. It is inspired by it, it responds and creates onwards from there. I am still in search for such a review. I guess writing it would take a long time...In the meantime, I will keep reading.

Here's the Woody Allen case: Woody goes to Europe to make a string of movies mostly slated by the film critics for reasons such as 'not enough Woody in them', 'what does he know about English culture or Barcelona', and he should go back to New York and do what he does best. Woody's stock goes down critically (while a new generation who did not get Annie Hall do get Vicky Christina Barcelona).

Now Allen has gone back to New York (at least for this one film), he has found an old script on which he worked in the 1970's (his golden period) and has done a funny, twisted New York comedy which tackles with his beloved question: what's the point in life when we all die in the end? Classic Woody.

I watched Whatever Works in a cinema called Angelica in SoHo (on Mercer and 18 West Houston). It was a humid and overheated day in last August. I laughed with the responsive and explosive audience–popcorn was kicked and spilled and a man kept commenting loudly to the characters on the screen. We had fun and felt good about Woody's return and his recent victory over American Apparel.

But what do the film critics who hated Allen's European adventures say this time around? Well, they have reversed into 'we preferred his European films'. Plain and clear if not contradictory.Tomorrow I will discuss the Finnish album reviews so far for Better Than Wages.

American blog Stranded in Stereo has posted my video for download today.The video was directed by Sami Sänpäkkilä (visual artist, filmmaker and the man behind Fonal Records) and it was shot in my home!

Tomorrow, Thursday we are playing at this year's Lost in Music festival in Tampere@Yo-talo. We will share the stage with Cats on Fire and Regina.

It started last week with an invitation to an event that somehow related to the new subway line.Then yesterday a good smelling invitation with candy, big red lips and the name Jade Jagger.I was asked to enter one of those glitzy new night clubs in town, to wear red, drink champagne and eat canapes. If ever there was a chance to see the bare shoulders of rally drivers' wives and footballers maybe, it would be here...and maybe the infamous Mr. Mouth will be in town himself for his daughter's exclusive Finnish party. I was also sent an invitation to an auction house this week. Do they think they can lure me into bidding on some paintings now that I am a recording artist?

Thank you for the invitations, but I will be working on those dates. I will be in the unglamorous green rooms of small clubs and if anything on me will be red, it'll be my warm woolly leggins from Marimekko.

Good morning! Me and the Drunk Lovers are in the capital of Finland this morning, getting ready to play Tavastia this evening.
There will be some surprises in the show.
Cats on Fire start at 9PM sharp, so come early.
I remembered that their album is called Our Temperance Movement, which makes this evening a meeting of the sober and the drunk. I guess we have approached the same problem from opposite directions. In this promised land of alcohol all comments are necessary, I think.

Here is the lyric for Hands Tied. It is the last song on Better Than Wages.

the curtains are still drawn
It must be mid-day
you don’t wanna see the sun
it’s cloudy anyway

breaking up with someone
is better than all alone
waiting for a phone call
when the phone’s not on
is lonely

I never promised
but I let myself down
maybe it’s cause I’m tired
of trying to be something

breaking up with someoneis better than all alonewaiting for a phone callwhen the phone’s not onis lonely

you should have warned meI should have let you inyou should have stayedwhen I was sleeping

breaking up with someoneis better than all alonewaiting for a phone callwhen the phone’s not onis lonelyoh, it’s lonely

This coming Wednesday I will be playing at Tavastia, Helsinki with the notorious Drunk Lovers.
Cats on Fire is also performing on Wednesday evening at 9PM so all the more reason to be there rain or shine.

Here is a live review by Aamulehti of a show couple weeks ago (I guess it's for the Tampere show).
The review is very positive, which I am surprised by because it was a very difficult show for the band. I was recovering slowly from bronchitis and just before the show I puked the last antibiotic pill out of my guts and felt like fainting all the time. The next night in Turku we played the best show we have done so far...but hey, thank you for coming to those shows and we did our best on both evenings.

Here is the lyric for The Little You Give. This song is about loving a Pavement fan.
I have learnt two things from you
never to tell exactly what’s on my mind
and never to lie

I have said two things to you
always to say precisely what you feel
and never to die

I
don’t know why
we’re still dancing
around the table
I
don’t know why
we still hold on
to that old refrain:

‘And I accept the little you give
between the lies and the day that you die’

I have kept two things from you
they will forever remain unsaid
and you won’t be hurt

I have sung these words to you
when you had Crooked Rain on so loud
we both thought we were in
Pavement

I
don’t know why
we’re still holding
onto that same old song
I
don’t know why
we still dance
around the table
I
don’t know why
we still hold on
to that same refrain:

‘And I accept the little you give
between the lies and the day that you die’

To continue with posting all the lyrics for Better Than Wages, today it's time for the story of love that will never materialize in time. Or something like that...the timing is off.
I'm sorry I forgot all about posting the lyrics for a while. I'm taking the task up again today with three more songs to come after today.

When I Was Taken and I didn't Care

front door open and we’re moving again
here’s to hoping there’s no collision
with you

there’s no such thing here as two friends

on the road
there’s no such thing here
as lovers and their boat
with you

I admit I like you
but you don’t even have a heart
I admit I like you
but you don’t even have a heart

If you don’t see me it’s your loss
I’m just fighting for my cause

you may guess

your sideways glance is way too latethere’s no such thing hereas ‘come back in ten years’with you

I admit I like youbut you don’t even have a heartI admit I like youbut you don’t even know how to start

you preferred mewhen I was taken and I didn’t careI preferred youwhen you were single but you didn’t dareyou preferred mewhen I was single but I wouldn’t shareI prefer youwhen you’re far and you don’t starewhen you’re far and you don’t starewhen you’re far and you don’t starewhen you’re far and you don’t stare

Meteli.net published an interview with me today. It's in Finnish, it's in-debt and I like it. Somehow e-mail interviews end up being more accurate as far as I'm concerned.

Go to Noise.fi and the N-vitamiini program to listen to a podcast with my interview and a lot of music – for some reason all women it seems. The interview was fun to do, it's in Finnish and I don't remember what I said in it, but it was super windy that day in Hakis.

Get ready Tampere and Turku. I will be turning up with The Drunk Lovers this week. We are all getting over the flu just in time for the Klubi dates:30.9. Tampere, Klubi W/Them Bird Things1.10. Turku, Klubi (klubi's birthday bash)

We played in Berlin@Frannz Club last Thursday at the Helsinki in Berlin event. Here are a couple pics.The whole gang on the first night at Wiener Blut

I had a mission: find perfect boots for stage outfit. After being in Kreuzberg for less than two hours we had had the 'world's best' Thai food and I was the owner of black boots with crazy heels...Later Niko (who did the whole trip with zero budget) found these male-high heels and convinced Jukka to lend the cash. (The shoe behind is Jukka's jealous bookie boot – he crashed the picture)

This is how bands travel: leave a touch later to the airport from the hotel. Cab takes you to the wrong terminal. One of the band goes looking for his I-pod. Another member is coughing his brains out in puke-smelling terminal C with all our gear. In the queue one more member believes we are standing next to a suitcase bomb. By the time we actually make it through the security check the bus to the plane has gone. The above is a picture of two bands making their way from the airport to the plane – the private airport vehicle of Astrid & TDL and Rubik (imagine the dirty looks we got when we marched to our seats in row 24).

This Wednesday the Drunk Lovers will join me on a journey to Berlin where we are to play a show on Thursday the 17th of September.
The event is called Helsinki in Berlin and it features many Finnish bands.
We will be playing at Frannz Club on September 17th (event begins at 8PM) with Murmansk and Rubik.

To continue with posting the lyrics for Better Than Wages, here is

Goodbye/Goodnight

seeing that look on your face
I know we’re finally here
it’s a goodbye a goodbye
it’s a goodbye a goodbye

to the one who went too far by mistake
and can’t crawl back to the start

I’m losing myself to this night
I’m losing your love in the darkness
it’s a goodnight a goodnight
it’s a goodnight a goodnight

to the one who went to sleep alone
and the tears on his cheeks
shine like stars

So when it finally ends

We all wish it could be beautiful
but what if I can’t say
what if I can’t say it so

The ragged rock chick is home (the Drunk Lovers stayed at our still relatively new rehearsal place to work on sound proofing)! Tampere was great last night, I could never sleep before midnight there...

Tomorrow, September 11th, we will play a free show at Levykauppa Äx in Helsinki. Show time is 18:00sharp. All ages welcome.

Nyt-liite reviews my album in their new issue giving Better Than Wages 4/5 stars. The review says that this is my best and most energetic album where I have found a sound that suits my songs!

Today's lyric is for the 2000–2010 (I'm Not Even Thirty) (Check out the music video)

where are our flat bellies where are those jeans that used to look perfect where are those girls’ nights out where are the mornings & 8o’clock cigarettes

where are those phone calls accounting for the bad dates where are those guys who used to think we were fun

where are my high heels that made me a good dancer the pity of the ladies who thought they knew better cause they were so much older born in the 70s

where are those boys who used to think we were cool where are those guys who used to think we were too young

I’m not 30 and I sleep before 10 I’m not even 30 and I sleep before midnight

where are those club nights seeing all the new bands The Rollstons, the White Stripes and eating nothing putting all our change towards coffee &cigarettes

where are those boys who used to treat us like shit where are those guys who used to think we were too dumb

I’m not 30 and I sleep before 10 I’m not even 30 and I sleep before midnight

Today's song lyric is for Unrelated, the fourth track on Better Than Wages. You can download the entire song from the link on the right hand side.

My brother is a gourmet microwave cook I’m a credit card trickster we never shared the same room or even home and the blood in our veins is unrelated

My brother speaks the language of machines and crooks I have lesbian hands that like to touch each other we never shared the same bed or even a table we have rules for the bathroom cause we’re so unrelated

unrelated unrelated unrelated

On our first date he speaks of only himself and I don’t even mind I’m so mesmerized by the way he says his name like he was

in love with himself

unrelated unrelated unrelated

My brother shakes the hands of important men while the look on his face is so 1951 makes you wanna trust him makes me wanna love him but what can I do when we’re so unrelated

Kuusilehti reviewed Better Than Wages yesterday. The review contains some interesting perspectives on the album and its relationship to my previous recordings. My comment:
I'm listening to Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde wondering who we are...

Today's lyric is for

Status Update

what we share is nostalgia
for bad habits
together we begin smoking again
for the love of Us
knowing this much is lost
with the other one gone
I can’t take a second more
of your loyalty

These should be the last drags of our old love
but it’s hard to let go
when nothing’s wrong enough

I don’t recall ever being this close to the edge
of deleting you out of my profile
and changing my status
knowing this makes it public
then we probably can’t go back
for fear of looking like two losers
who can’t break up

These should be the last drags of our old love
but it’s hard to let go
when nothing’s wrong enough

what we share is older than our virtual reality

Where certain darkness stays away until it’s a fact maybe the best part of quitting is the chance of starting all over we’re the only ones who care where we first met

These should be the last drags of our old love but it’s hard to let go when nothing’s wrong enough

It's Monday and Better Than Wages has been in stores for a few days now. I hope you have found it! We played a mini-show at Stupido Shop in Helsinki on Friday (without Jukka and his guitars) and now look forward to full blast shows this week starting in Tampere on Wednesday (September 9th).

Today and tomorrow are dedicated to bike riding and the search for performance outfits...I have to look the part – hanging with the Drunk Lovers.

From today onwards I will be posting the song lyrics for Better Than Wages here: a new day will bring one new song lyric for the next 11 days. Your Bitches lyric has already appeared here, so look for it from the older posts.

Important: if you already own a CD of Better Than Wages you have probably noticed that it doesn't inform you on who designed the covers, photographed everything and put it all together.
A horrible mistake! The artist is Varpu Eronen and she deserves our love as she is the greatest.

Only two more days to go to album release in Finland. The first gig is also nearing fast (next Friday)!This week Radio Helsinki will have Better Than Wages as their morning record, which means that besides hearing it listeners have a chance to win their own copies of the album. So tune in between 6 and 9 every morning!

The brand new issue of Six Degrees (free paper in English) has a lengthy interview with me. You can pick up copies of the paper, or go here on-line to read it. The interview is in English and we discuss Better Than Wages as well as things from past and present.

The new issue of Soundi (a Finnish music monthly) also features an interview with me as well as a review of the new album.

And I am still proud of being in the latest issue of Finnish Elle magazine – fall fashion is the best and I'm happy to pop out among the knee-high boots, capes and handbags.

Remember: you can stream the whole of Better Than Wages for nearly a week still from the front page of All ScandinavianAnd YleX is still playing a new track from the new album every day!

From Tuesday to Friday at 10:25 in the morning a new song from Better Than Wages will be played and also introduced by me on YleX.X-Ryhmä show (between 18-21 in the evening) will rerun the song and introduction every evening.On Saturday one new track and my introduction will be played at 16:10 in the afternoon.The introductory videos for each song will be posted everyday on-line here.

Go to YleX -page to read what they say about Better Than Wages and to watch my radio interview.

Starting from tomorrow Monday 24th, Better Than Wages will be featured on YLE X radio station everyday of the week as it is the album of the week.

On Monday at 11:20 in morning an interview with me will be aired. A rerun of the interview will run on Monday's X-Ryhmä program in the evening.

On all the other days of the week one new track from Better Than Wages will be played with my comments at 10:25 in the morning. A rerun of the day's song and comments airs at 16:10 every afternoon in X-Ryhmä.

My interview and comments will also be on-line as video. I'll post links here ASAP tomorrow.

Last night I found out that Dave Allen from Gang of Four played Unrelated (the free download linked on this blog) on his weekly radio show for new music on WOXY. You can listen to the wholeshow here. I'm happy to be in good company!

Also, another French language review has appeared. This time Rockomondo, who have been very supportive of my music over the last years, have posted a very positive write-up about Better Than Wages. In fact the whole album becomes more sophisticated when written about in French!

Another Finnish blog called Vertigo has reviewed Better Than Wages. Even though it gets 3/5 in ticks, the review is super positive and calls the album 'ultra-cool' as well as throwing in some brand new comparisons, which always makes me happy!

Today 30 different international blogs posted 30 mp3s for download from each partnering country. My song Unrelated was chosen to be the Finnish song of the month.Go to Glue (the Finnish blog) to find the tracks.

While waiting for the new album to appear you can read about last year's Spartan Picnic – in French. A blog called With music in my mind has posted about Spartan Picnic.If you know what it says and it's nice, please let me know!

Go to Stupido Records and order your copy of Better Than Wages already!You can order in Finnish as well.I'll be posting all the lyrics for the songs here later.And while waiting for the whole album, you can go to I-Tunes and get Your Bitches (first single)

you always pick the oneswith really tidy hairwho have nothing much to sayexcept ‘when can we go home’‘I wanna cook for you’‘I’ll make you feel young’‘I wanna make you healthy’although, when she makes loveshe’s quiet as a mouse…

sometimes you gotta go outto drink and to smokeand to do bad thingsto flirt with the girls in short miniskirtsyou burp and you pukeand you sleep on the sofa with your shoes on

wonder what she sees in you then?

you always pick the oneswith schedules and gym cardswho get drunk just once a yearand hardly ever curseyeah, you always pick the oneswho get on with everyoneand if they don’t like methey will never ever come cleanso just shut upcome on, shut up

so that we can go outto drink and to smoketo do bad thingsto flirt with the girls in those short miniskirtsoh, you burp and you pukeyou sleep on the sofa with your shoes onyeah, you drink and you smokeand you flirt with any kinda girl with any kinda skirt onyeah, you burp and you pukeand you sleep on the sofa with your shoes on

It's impossible to have anything much to tell about recording an album. It's fun and ugly. Day by day everyone begins to look worse. Intense energy, boredom, excitement of the new, fear.But now we're in the second from last day of mixing. At this point all perspective, distance and good will is gone. It's just uncertainty, fiddling with small frequencies that make all the difference. Nerves. The band is dispersed all over Scandinavia, waiting to hear what happened to the songs.

Getting ready for the first gig with A. S. & The Drunk Lovers at Bar Loose. We played so loud some people had to leave. But I promise to work on this, as we are not trying to be Dinosaur Junior. We tried to do a red-wine-thing on stage but it sucked. Anyway, it was impressive.

Don't go jogging for the first time in the spring with someone who runs all the time, is twice your height, and even does streching afterwards. This put me off for weeks.

Hello from the studio. Here are some pictures from the first week of recording the new Astrid Swan album. The big news is that I have a dangerous band now and they have a name: The Drunk Lovers. The good news is that we rock and our songs are catchy!